Samsung Galaxy S5 approved for partial Australian government use

Samsung's flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5 has been approved for use within the Australian government on an unclassified basis.

The company announced late last week that it has achieved what is known as "Common Criteria Certification" against the Mobile Device Fundamentals Protection Profile for use within the Australian government.

This is the protection profile developed by the United States' National Information Assurance Partnership.

The certification provided to the Samsung Galaxy S5 means it has been qualified for use within not only Australian government agencies, but also within US government agencies and the US military, Samsung said.

But Australian Signals Directorate told ZDNet that the device was only approved for use on an unclassified basis.

"ASD has not evaluated the Samsung Galaxy S5, but rather approved the Protection Profile it was evaluated against," a spokesperson said.

"The ASD Evaluated Products list is a collation of evaluations ASD has conducted, including evaluations against the Common Criteria, or crypt evaluations of products. The device was evaluated by the US Defense Information Systems Agency.

"ASD recognises the evaluation under the Mutual Recognition provisions of the Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement. The Protection Profile regarding the Samsung Galaxy S5 is for UNCLASSIFIED use only."